All the talk of legalizing gambling elsewhere, in fact, had died with the dream in Atlantic City. Businessmen and politicians had no leg to stand on in any argument that casinos would be a good thing for their communities. Everyone pointed to the shameful fiasco of Atlantic City and said, “Not here.”
The gambling “boom” might have died right then and there, not so much a boom as a little pop and fizzle. But something occurred that took everyone by surprise. The businessmen, the lawyers, and the politicians all knew that they could never again get the public support they would need to expand gambling operations anywhere else in the country. But there was a small group of people who were living in poverty, who had no lawyers, no politicians, and no bankers, who saw Atlantic City in a way that no one else did. With no public referendums, or marketing campaigns with media blitzes, or any concern whatsoever for what the local authorities might think of their legal right to have a casino, they pooled their modest resources and said, “Screw you, Donald Trump. We’ll be your competition.”
